About DRI

Management Profiles

Kelly S. Jacobsen

A 21 year industry veteran, and a founder of DRI, Kelly drives the company’s vision and long-term growth as President.

Kelly has held a number of key positions within electronics test and manufacturing market space. He began his career in the Defense industry at ESI (now Raytheon) in mechanical design where much his work is still in operation today. After leaving ESI, he then moved to Maryland where he worked with AAI in the Pioneer UAV program. Kelly joined the commercial electronics industry in developing custom semiconductor manufacturing solutions. He moved on to found a Radio Control Airplane company which he later successfully sold. After joining a small company in the custom test integration and manufacturing business, Kelly decided to go back to his entrepreneurial roots and began DRI.

Kelly holds a BS in Physics and a MS in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University.

Doug Miles

As a founding member of DRI with extensive experience in manufacturing technologies, Doug brings technology depth and breadth to the company as the Vice president of Engineering.

Doug began his career in the Defense industry at General Dynamics in Manufacturing Development supporting the F-16 program where he specialized in designing flexible tooling and robotic work cells. With the explosive growth in the PC market, Doug moved into developing automated test and material handling systems for Tandy Electronics focusing on product life & functional testing. He spearheaded a wide variety of improvements using various technologies including pneumatics, servo & stepper motors, industrial controls & bar-code systems. He moved into product design as Chief Engineer and Operations Manager for Scientific Measurement Systems which designed industrial X-ray inspection systems (CT scanners) for NASA, defense and the automotive industries. Since then Doug has been a leading consultant in mechanical systems design and automation in the Dallas area.

Doug received a BA in Engineering Science and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois.

Debra M. Jacobsen

With more than 20 years in the high technology industry, Debra brings a wealth of experience to her role as Director of Sales and Marketing. She is responsible for all aspects of sales and product marketing. Debra also oversees DRI product planning, strategy, and partnerships.

Debra began her career in sales and sales management with 15 years at Hewlett Packard in test and measurement where she and her team won many awards. She then moved to a small test system integration firm to become the Director of Sales where she put in place the sales team and strategy and was instrumental in growing the company ten-fold in her 3 year tenure. After becoming a Marketing Manager at National Instruments, she joined her entrepreneurial husband at DRI.

Debra holds a BS in Physics and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M and an MBA from University of Dallas.

Theodore (Ted) Zalecki

Ted’s exceptional focus on customer service in his long career makes him the ideal Field Service Manager as a founding member of Design Right.

Ted’s career began in the US Air Force in Liquid Fuels and Missile Technologies in Little Rock, Arkansas. As a Master Missileman, he was recruited into Specialist and moved from Arkansas to Alaska and Texas. Due to Ted’s attention to detail and perfectionism, he was a natural as a Jet Engine Mechanic and won many awards and commendations for his knowledge and service. He left the USAF in 1987 to join Scientific Measurement Systems, an X-Ray Tomography (X-Ray CT) company, as their Manager of Mechanical Assembly where he was responsible for the complete design implementation, quality and customer installation. Ted’s knowledge of design for manufacture, proper assembly procedure and safety is a great asset to DRI. The extreme care he takes in insuring each step in the manufacturing, assembly and delivery process is done just right is a major reason why our customers prefer us.

Ted has graduated from the USAF NCO Leadership School and the USAF Training School in Liquid Fuels Maintenance, Fire Protection, and Jet Engine Repair.